Cyber Monday sales spending was apparently down because of early shopping

Cyber Monday sales were down 1.4 percent year over year, as indicated by a report from Adobe Analytics. Customers spent $10.7 billion this year, $100 million less than the $10.8 billion buyers spent in 2020.

Amazon’s holiday shopping report just backs Adobe’s claims that Cyber Monday sales took a dip — the commerce giant didn’t report that the current year’s Cyber Monday was the “biggest” day of shopping as it has done previously. In 2019, Amazon said that Cyber Monday was the platform’s “single biggest shopping day in the company’s history,” while in 2020, Thanksgiving weekend was depicted as the “largest holiday shopping season” in Amazon history.

This time around, there was no notice of Amazon having the best shopping day or season in its history. Instead, Amazon gloated about having the greatest “kickoff to the holiday shopping season,” as well as a “record-breaking” Black Friday and Cyber Monday — however, it didn’t determine which record it broke.

This follows the first decline in spending on Black Friday, which Adobe ascribes to customers taking advantage of sales and promotions earlier in the holiday season. It appears as though a similar early shopping trend additionally added to a dip in sales on Cyber Monday, as Adobe takes note that individuals are finishing their shopping in October and November and are likewise nabbing in-demand products when they see them.

“With early deals in October, consumers were not waiting around for discounts on big shopping days like Cyber Monday and Black Friday,” said Taylor Schreiner, the director at Adobe Digital Insights. “This was further fueled by growing awareness of supply chain challenges and product availability. It spread out e-commerce spending across October and November, putting us on track for a season that still will break online shopping records.”

From November 1st to the 29th, Adobe reports that customers have spent an aggregate of $109.8 billion, an 11.9 percent increment from the year before. Up until now, there have been 22 days where customers have spent more than $3 billion, while it followed just nine around this time in 2020.

Adobe says that AirPods, Apple Watches, Apple Pencils, the Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series S, Meta (formerly Oculus) Quest 2, as well as laptops from HP, Lenovo, and Dell, were some of the top sellers in tech during Cyber Monday.